Irascible
by xWhitlock
Summary: Jasper Hale's emotions have been getting out of hand & the entire family is feeling the brunt of it. Story starts with Jasper finally snapping.
1. Chapter 1

Jasper slammed his head against the steering wheel as he drove away. He was so sick of this. Of his unpredictable temper, of feeling the need to leave whenever there was a human guest in the vast Cullen house. Why couldn't Bella go to Charlie's house for once!? Of course his family don't _want _him to take off, but they _know_ it's a good idea. What about Alice though? She should be with Jasper through everything, that's what soul mates are for; but nooo, she stayed back at the house. She wanted to see Charlie. Jasper was angrier than usual. For the millionth time that night, he thought about what would happen if he didn't go home. If he drove in the opposite direction until the rubber on the tyres wore out. Would they find him? Would they even bother looking? Would they...

"Fuck it", Jasper snarled to himself. He turned the volume up on the CD player as loud as it would go, and then violently swerved his car half circle on the wet, blackened freeway and sped off back towards the place he reluctantly called home.

__________

As he made his way down the long, Tree-covered driveway, Jasper drove past the Police Cruiser driving the other way. Good. Charlie nodded as they passed each other, and even though Jasper noticed, he continued to look straight ahead, as if he needed to.

Although the others inevitably heard Jasper coming, they didn't look up when he arrived in. Still angry, he closed the door with a little more force than necessary. This made Esme look up.

"Jasper, dear, is everything OK?" She said, frowning.

"Yeah, everything's fine." He replied dryly, and went to sit beside Alice on the couch. She put her hand on his but he just brushed it off.

"Are you sure?" Esme continued, not noticing this small detail that would have answered her question. Jasper, who was usually very cool and closed off when it came to emotional displays, surprised everyone when he jumped up, screaming "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE!?" and disappeared up the stairs like a ferocious hurricane. Everyone, even Alice & Edward who were expected to see these kinds of things coming, were taken aback.

All eyes were on Alice.

"I guess I better go talk to him", she shrugged.

__________

Alice did not want to talk to Jasper. He was so moody recently, and nothing she could do seemed to help. As she climbed the stairs, her wary thoughts were accented by loud bangs and crashes coming from her & Jasper's second floor bedroom. She slowly opened the door, only to have it pushed shut on her almost right away.

"You're not making this any easier for yourself" she whispered, defeated, through the door.

"What difference would it make then!? It's never fucking easy!" Jasper called back, another loud crash illustrating his words.

"Just, please, open the door. Please, Jasper."

There was a long pause. The heavy door handle turned, and the door was left ajar. Jasper obviously did not want to open it all the way.

Alice nudged the bedroom door with her foot and peered around it nervously, not quite sure what it looked like on the other side. The scene was exactly what she expected, and feared. A huge chest of drawers was reduced to splinters on the floor; the ornaments that once sat atop it were now indefinable shards of crystal. The bedclothes were ripped to shreds, as well as one bedside table which had been turned over, and points in the wall, low down, where Jasper had kicked right through to the next room. Jasper was sitting on his side of the bed with his legs crossed and his face in one of his hands. He had his back to the door, whereby Alice stood hesitantly. Anyone could have seen it, vampire or not. Jasper was breathing very heavily. He didn't need to, but in a situation like this it seemed almost comforting.

"Well?" Jasper almost snarled, snapping Alice out of her worried trance.

"Jasper," She began slowly. He didn't turn around. "I'm sick of trying to understand these outbursts. I mean, the past month, I've gone shopping for new furniture more than I've gone shopping for new clothes."

"Your point?" He replied.

"Well, I just want to know what's going on for you. I know it's hard for you to keep to the whole 'vegetarian' thing, but trust me, it gets better."

Jasper chuckled to himself once, humourlessly. She didn't get it at all. He loved Alice with all his heart, they both knew this. But it worried only one of them. Him. His heart was dead, stopped. How could he love someone so much with something that, technically, didn't work? Now was not the time to think of this. He shifted infinitesimally so he could see Alice out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his head down.

"Can you do me a favour?" He whispered.

Alice leaned forward, excited that there was something she might be able to do; something that Jasper would actually let her do for him.

"Anything." She smiled hopefully.

"Can you go get Bella?"

Alice frowned. She wasn't expecting this. Jasper & Bella had become good friends since she became a vampire, and he wasn't an unmatchable threat to her anymore. But Alice wondered what Bella could do for her husband that she couldn't. She didn't want Jasper to see her worried though. She nodded and flitted out of the room. Seconds later there was a knock on the already open door. Pointless, really, but Bella was used to having to knock to let someone know she was there. Of course, Jasper had heard her coming the second she started making her way to the room. Jasper grunted in acknowledgment rather than saying 'come in'.

Bella walked in and stood at the door awkwardly, her eyes scanned the trashed room & widened.

"What's up Jazz? Are you OK?" She asked. She didn't realise how stupid that question was until after she asked.

"No. To be blunt. I know I'm usually a miserable bastard, but I've never felt worse before now." He replied.

"Well... what can I do?" Bella asked, walking towards where he was sitting on the bed.

_________________

To be continued ;)


	2. Chapter 2

"_Well, what can I do?" Bella asked, walking towards where he was sitting on the bed._

Jasper looked up as Bella came around the foot of the bed. He held his hand out and gestured for her to sit beside him. He turned to face her. When she sat down, Jasper put one hand on her shoulder, and looked into her eyes sternly. This intimidated Bella. Although, at this moment in time, Bella was stronger than Jasper, he still had centuries more practice than her, & not only that, but he _looked_ scary. His fierce eyes didn't calm her down either, but Jasper felt this nervousness & took care of it almost right away.

"Bella..." Jasper said with a forced calm. He didn't break her gaze. "What I'm going to ask you to do is very simple. Just... Just sit. And focus on everything that makes you happy."

Bella raised one a perfect eyebrow. "Oh. Okay." & with that she let images of Edward and Renesmee flood her mind, of Jacob and Charlie, of Esme's Island, _everything_ that made her happy. Jasper closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in through his nose. Pointless, of course, but it made everything seem more real. The breath made his shoulders rise & his nostrils flare. His hand was still on Bella's shoulder.

They sat like this for a near twenty minutes. Then, Jasper released his hold on Bella's shoulder and slowly opened his eyes. To Bella's surprise, he smiled. It wasn't a huge smile; it was barely detectable under his composed mask.

"Thank you." Jasper breathed, sounding relieved.

"You're welcome," Bella practically asked, "But... What exactly did I do?"

"Bella..." He replied, looking for the words to build his next sentence, "You... You are always, so happy. Not even happy, just... content. I mean, no matter what happens, optimism just rolls off you in waves. You are one of the most interesting people to be around. You are truly amazing."

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but Jasper held up a finger to silence her.

"I'm just saying," He continued, "That being near you, and being around you has become an addiction, I'm not saying I love you. Not the way Edward does anyway, but I've grown to... well I've grown tolove being _around_ you."

Jasper took in Bella's wide eyes and puzzled expression. He wasn't sure how she would take this. He didn't want her to think he was falling in love with her. He wasn't. He couldn't be. She just needed to know that Jasper couldn't do this without her. He couldn't keep his cool, without Bella being around to calm him down. It frustrated him though. He was the one who calmed everyone else down, it was his job. He barely felt like a part of the family, and now, there was someone else doing the only thing that really kept him attached to anyone. Not that Bella's good mood worked on anyone but him. Sometimes, Jasper wondered if his 'gift' wasn't like a sponge, if he could stop himself from feeling other people's emotions, would he shut Bella out? At this point, she was the only one keeping him from going completely insane. But maybe he needed to snap. He didn't even know anymore. Jasper thought of all of this in less than a second.

When his thoughts finally returned to the look on Bella's face, her expression changed. Her muscles relaxed and she let a sigh out through a smile.

"Jasper, it's ok. I love being around you too. You might be one of the reasons I'm always so relaxed and happy. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be a wreck." She laughed once, awkwardly.

Jasper smiled, mouth closed. He looked up, but kept his head down.

"Awesome." He said wearily.

There was a short pause, less than one tenth of a second, in which Jasper felt the mood change. He felt anger, confusion, but most of all he felt betrayal. His brow furrowed.

"Bella, are you OK?"

Bella's brow furrowed in the same instant. "Yeah, why?"

Another Pause.

"FUCK!" Jasper hissed.

"What!? What is it!?" Bella Jumped to her feet and swivelled to look around.

"Shit, SHIT UGH!" Jasper jumped across the bed rather than going around it. He tore the door open, to find Alice, Standing on the other side of the door. If it were possible, her eyes would be filled with tears.

"Alice..." Jasper began. It sounded like a plea.

Alice choked out a tearless sob. She slumped, her body looking as though it had just lost a battle.

Jasper leaned back from the door to look at Bella, who was still standing on the other side of the bed, frozen in place. His eyes were frantic. When he turned back to look at Alice, she was gone.

"SHIT!" Jasper said again, halfway through the door.

"What, Jasper!? What's going on!?" Bella asked urgently, right on his heels.

"Alice heard the last part of our conversation! She probably thinks I was declaring my undying love for you or something! ... Fuck!"

"What?! But... No... That's... It's- What?! How could she even think that!?"

"Ugh, I don't know... whatever's on her mind, she was _not_ happy when I opened that door."

By this point Jasper & Bella were coming to the end of the staircase. Jasper jumped the last few steps, as did Bella. There were sounds of arguing coming from the huge living room. When they landed at the bottom, they turned to face the room where they heard the argument, except it had stopped, & in the doorway stood Alice. Her tiny frame shook with emotion, and she was sporting the same crushed expression she was when Jasper found her eavesdropping a few moments beforehand. Her narrowed eyes were focused on Jasper.

It comforted Bella that Edward walked up behind Alice. At first, anyway. She then noticed his mouth was a thin, stern line. She also noticed his tight, ice cold eyes, and the fact that they were not on her, as they usually would be.

They were fixed on Jasper.


	3. A Quick Author's Note

Hey guys, I'm really sorry about the lack of updates recently, I broke my hand and so it was pretty hard to type, then I was camping for a week, and not only that but i have pretty awful writers block, I promise I'll have the new chapter up within the next week, Sorry again.

xx


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